


The Mirage

by 11AtomicBlast11



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe, Cyberpunk, Future, Gen, Original Characters - Freeform, Original Fandom, Original Fiction, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:21:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22260991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/11AtomicBlast11/pseuds/11AtomicBlast11
Summary: Woods wakes up in an alleyway at gunpoint with no memory of who he is, or more importantly where he is. He defeats his captors only to uncover a horrible truth, and an unlikely ally.How can you trust anyone in a place like The Mirage?
Kudos: 2





	The Mirage

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first, original fiction. Tons of more chapters are coming, possibly even a 2nd book. I complete all my writing on Google Docs for convenience then upload. Expect minor changes to chapters every time I update due to the constant process of self-editing.
> 
> If people actually enjoy this, let me know and I will most certainly be inspired to continue producing more and more content. Might make a Discord too..
> 
> Thanks! Enjoy!
> 
> Chapter 1 of (???- who knows?)

Woods forced himself to climb back into the light. A sweet lullaby of unconsciousness luring him back to sleep. He heard voices overhead, talking. 

“Anything on this guy?” someone said. Their voice distorted and far away. “Checking now. They don’t drop them this far in if they aren’t capable.”

_‘Where am I?’_ Woods whispered into the darkness. He pushed into the emptiness inside of him. Like swimming in a pool of black water without a bottom. He swam towards the voices. The water began to move, faster and faster until he was about to go over a waterfall. He tried to push against the current but couldn’t. He yelled into the void as he fell. His eyes opened. His vision was instantly flooded with light. He winced before adjusting to the vision, recognizing that he was at the barrel end of a rifle.

"Holy shit.” a voice sputtered. 

“He’s alive.” 

“Let’s fix that, shall we?” another person chided. Pulling back the slide on their weapon.

Woods saw the mans’ finger twitch on the trigger. His adrenaline kicked in and Woods knocked the gun to the left as it blasted into the concrete. The man tried to hold his ground, but the slickness of the rain ensured that wouldn’t be the case. 

Woods grabbed the gun before getting up, grabbing the arm of the man and holding the gun to his temple as he forced his hostage to kneel.

"Where am I?" he asked. In front of him were four men in white armor and vests, all with their weapons rifles trained on him. The man he had at gunpoint was the fifth, only missing a helmet. No one spoke.

"I said where the fuck am I!" he yelled, pulling back the slide on the gun and pressing it deeper into the man’s head. 

"Calm down. Just let him go." The man in the front said, putting down his weapon and putting his hands in front of him. 

"I'm unarmed. You were in an accident and you’re injured. You’re not thinking clearly." 

Woods looked down at the piece of rugged metal sticking out of his leg. Suddenly realizing the amount of pain he was in, and that his mind was beginning to not let him ignore it. 

"Who are you?" he asked. "Why can't I remember anything?" Woods yelled. 

"We're here to help. Just put the gun down." the man said. 

A quiet chime went off emitting from each of the men’s pockets. Woods reached into the pocket of his hostage, keeping the gun trained on him. He grabbed a cell phone. The screen was lit up with Woods’ face on it. In big red letters it reads out, "BOUNTY INCREASED: 50,000". 

"What the fuck is this!" Woods yelled at the group. 

"Jesus christ... 50,000 credits.." one of the men whispered. 

Woods saw a shadow creeping into the corner of his eye, a rifle readying to fire. One of the men caught his gaze, and his intent. 

Woods moved his finger towards the trigger. “Get dow-” one of the men yelled, but it was too late.

Woods twisted around at lightning speed, using the hostage to shield him from fire as he shot the men. Shooting the one behind him first before turning back and ducking as rounds whizzed past his head. He gripped the rifle tightly and pulled the trigger. Four shots rang out, and four more bodies fell. 

Woods exhaled in relief. Dropping to the ground and catching his breath. 

Looking down at his wound, he tried to pull the metal out and yelled out. It wasn’t going anywhere. He tore a line of cloth from his shirt and wrapped it around his wound to stop the bleeding. 

He got up, picked up one of the dead men’s rifles and a few clips of ammo, along with the device that had his bounty on it. He ran his fingers along the hard plastic that encased the glass. “HOLOPLEX 5.0” it read. He put it in his pocket. There wasn’t enough time to try and gain access. More could be coming.

He made his way between the buildings to the street, limping, although being careful not to alert any others that may be nearby.

Although, when he made it to the street, there wasn’t anyone there. Woods ducked behind a car left stranded in the road, expecting at least _someone_ to have heard the gunshots. But the street, like the car he was using as cover, was abandoned. A thick fog was limiting his visibility to only a few blocks, but even so, it was a dead city. He looked up at the towering pillars of concrete & glass. At its best, this city would have been beautiful. Massive black towers of glass drenched in neon. Monorail tracks crossed through and around them like an intricate web. It wasn’t at its best though. The city was dead and war torn. He looked in the back of his mind to tell him where he was, but he couldn’t. Like the city, his memories were a deep fog.

Woods closed his eyes, and opened them again. He was in a driveway. He tried to move, but he couldn’t, immobilized with fear. The clouds were dark. A man ran to him and picked him up. “Dad? What’s going on?” he said. “Don’t worry son, we’re going somewhere safe.” the man said as they rushed into the car with a woman. “Oh my god.” the woman said. The man and woman screamed as a tidal wave washed over their suburban street. Woods didn’t move or scream. He just sat there. Watching in horror.

He blinked, and he was back in the city. A pain striking his head. Partially from inside of it, partially from yet another gun pressed against it. He slowly put his hands up.

“You know, the last six people who decided to hold me at gunpoint were dead within a minute.” he said.

“I’m not those six people, am I?” a female voice responded. It was firm, and curious. But with a slight distinct accent. “Get up.” He got up and turned around. In front of him was a woman, she was tall but thin. Her purple eyes pierced his as a pale hand held a gun between them. Her hair was black and long. She was wearing a set of grey, likely fabric based armor. Stronger than kevlar but he doubted it could take a bullet more than once.

“Where do you come from?” She asked. Looking at the black fatigues Woods had on. “That uniform is very distinct. Not from here..” she said.

“I don’t know. I woke up in an alley. I can’t remember anything.” he said. 

“Right, where you killed 6 men like they were made of paper?” she blasted.

“Look. I woke up here. They attacked me, I defended myself. Where is everyone? What happened to this city?” he asked.

A horrid croaking was heard nearby. She cursed under her breath.

“Get down!” she yelled in a whisper, if that’s even possible. Grabbing Woods and pushing him below the door of the car. The deep chittering was evident again, closer.

“What is it?” he said.

“Shut your mouth if you want live!” she whispered. The two carefully peeked their heads over the frame of the car. Walking in the street was a man. No. Maybe something that used to be a man. It was a creature, with its boned unnaturally elongated and its skin as pale as snow. It’s sharped tooth mouth stained red with blood. Woods hadn’t seen such a creature before in his nightmares.

It didn’t seem to have seen them, and walked passively by. It’s bones audibly cracked and contracted as he walked. Croaking every now and then until it was out of sight. Woods didn’t know what the creature was, but based on the blood it had on it, and how well armed the people he killed were, he doubted that it would have remained passive for long if it saw them.

“What was that?” Woods asked, standing up.

“I don’t know. No one knows. They’re deadly though, and become greater in number the further you go.” she replied.

“The further you go where? I still don’t know what this place is.” he said.

She sighed. “Come with me. It’ll be easier if I have someone else explain it. You’re also going to need that looked at.” She said, looking at the blood-soaked shirt wrapping his wound.

“Why should I trust you?” he asked.

“If I wanted you dead, I would have shot you in the leg and left you to that creature to die. Based on that uniform, which you _say_ that you know nothing about, you’re not in the place to be picky about your friends.” she replied.

“Alright then. What’s your name?” he asked as they got up.

“Milya.” she replied. Extending her hand. “Yours?”

“Woods. I can remember my name, thankfully, but not much else.” he said, taking her hand and shaking it.

“So, this someone else.” he chided. “Can they be trusted? Do you have someplace safe around here?” He eyed her suspiciously.

“Yes. But we have to be careful. The people you killed were what we call hunters. They run people down, depending on if you have a bounty or not. But just because you aren’t on their list, doesn’t mean they won’t kill you just for looking at them the wrong way. They rule these lands.”

“Good to know.”

Milya took the lead, guiding them through the back alleys and desolate streets. They were able to dodge the patrols and creatures, occasionally witnessing someone be caught by the hunters.

They stopped at the exit to an alleyway, a woman with her child was cornered. They were unarmed, and in rags. Woods watched as she pleaded for the life of her child, offering herself up in exchange. The hunters laughed, ignoring their victim’s plea as they shot them both dead in the street. 

Woods began to raise his weapon, planning on avenging the death of the innocent people he just saw murdered. 

Milya put her hand on his shoulder. “There’s nothing we can do.” 

Woods forced himself to tear away from the scene. She was right. These weren’t back alley thugs. They were armored, well trained soldiers. From the looks of their armored transport, they were well funded too. 

Woods knew he couldn’t do anything then, but he burned the logo of who they represented in his mind. A black Sparrow surrounded by white.

Woods and Milya continued through the desolate urban landscape. Despite Woods’ injury, he was still fairly capable. He had an intent to survive made of steel. Even if it nearly killed him. 

They came across a hidden alleyway between the buildings.

“We’re here.” Milya said.

She knocked twice on a seemingly indistinguishable metal door. A slit near the top of the door opened and a pair of eyes looked out at them. The eyes were dirty, suspicious, like they had seen the worst of humanity and were prepared to see even worse things. 

“Who’s the stray?” the voice from behind the door asked.

“Another survivor. He just woke up.” Milya responded.

“He’s injured.” the voice said, looking down at Woods’ leg. “You know we can’t afford the medical supplies.”

“He has skills. He took down a squadron of hunters. I watched him. At least let me take him to Frank.” she argued.

The eyes appeared to gauge Woods for a few seconds, looking at him up and down. Determining if he was a threat. Woods just stood there silently, trying to keep himself from collapsing.

The door opened.

“Straight to Frank.”

A man stepped out from behind the door, a vest on and a weapon in-hand. Inside there were several others the same way. Standing behind make-shift sheet metal barriers or crouching behind concrete pillars. They were all different races and genders, wearing dirty scraps of clothing and armor. But they had that same look of fear they were trying to hide from themselves and each other.

Woods stepped inside, the door closed behind him and everyone slowly lowered their weapons. He began walking forward, and everything started to go black.

“Woods!” Milya yelled, rushing to catch him as he fell into unconsciousness


End file.
